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Telugu Historyతెలుగు చరిత్ర

Nandivarman II Pallavamalla

Pallava king of Kanchi for more than sixty years in the 8th century. He came from a side branch of the family descended from Simhavishnu's brother Bhimavarman, and was chosen king as a boy after the death of Paramesvaravarman II. His general Udayachandra drove a Nishada chief out of the land of 'Vishnuraja', identified with the Eastern Chalukya Vishnuvardhana III. An inscription of his 15th year at Mallam in the Gudur taluk shows Pallava rule in southern Nellore.

Nandivarman II, called Pallavamalla, came to the Pallava throne by a change of dynasty.12 He reigned for an unusually long time, and inscriptions are dated up to his 65th year.12 R. Gopalan dated his reign about 710–775, and G. Jouveau-Dubreuil dated it 717–779.23

Family and coming to the throne

Nandivarman II was the son of Hiranyavarman. Gopalan followed the Kasakudi plates and took Hiranyavarman to be the sixth descendant of Bhimavarman, a brother of Simhavishnu.456

Gopalan also read the labelled sculptures in the Vaikunthaperumal temple at Kanchipuram.78 As he read them, on the death of Paramesvaravarman II the ministers and citizens asked Hiranyavarman for a king.78 Of his four sons only Pallavamalla, then twelve years old, offered to go, and he was crowned at Kanchi as Nandivarman.78

The Kasakudi plates say that he was “chosen by his subjects”.5 The Udayendiram plates mention a rival prince, Chitramaya, whose cause the Dramila (Tamil) princes took up.4

Wars in the north

The Udayendiram plates record the services of his general Udayachandra.910 Udayachandra rescued the king when the Tamil kings besieged him at Nandipura.910 In the north he chased a Nishada (forest tribe) chief called Prithivi-Vyagra.910 The plates say this chief was “desiring to become very powerful” and “was running after the horse of the Asvamedha” (horse sacrifice).910 Udayachandra defeated him and “ordered him out of the district of Vishnuraja, which he subjected to the Pallava”.910

Gopalan identified Vishnuraja with the Eastern Chalukya king Vishnuvardhana III.10 He noted that Nellore is among the places where Udayachandra won victories.10 The Nellore gazetteer of 1942 thought Prithivivyaghra was a chief of the Telugu Cholas of Kadapa (then Cuddapah) who had raided the Chalukya country.11

The Mallam inscription

A Tamil inscription “in character of the Pallava type” lies on the floor of the Subrahmanya temple at Mallam in the Gudur taluk.12 It is dated in the 15th year of Nandipottarasar.12 It records gold given for lamps to the god Subrahmanya at Tiruvanbur.12 The givers were the men of the district, the villagers and the heads of assemblies.12 They gave it “at the order of Chalakkiaradar on the petition of Aluvaarasar”.12

Butterworth and Venugopaul Chetty assigned it to the 8th century.13 They took it to show a Pallava king “reigning over part of the district in subordination, apparently, to the Western Chalukyans”.13

The Nellore gazetteer of 1942 identified the king with Nandivarman II and the Chalukya with Vishnuvardhana III.11 It concluded that about 740 both the Chalukya king and the local chief accepted the Pallava as their overlord.11

The Chalukya and Rashtrakuta invasions

The Chalukya king Vikramaditya II invaded the Pallava country, defeated Nandipotavarman and entered Kanchi.1415 His Kendur plates claim that he did not destroy the city and that he gave gold back to the Rajasimhesvara temple.1415 A Kannada inscription in the Kailasanatha temple records the same.1415

Gopalan dated the invasion between 733 and 746, and he held that Nandivarman soon won back Kanchi.15 The Nellore gazetteer added that the Rashtrakuta Dantidurga later took Kanchi, and that Nandivarman made peace with him by a marriage.16

Footnotes

  1. Gopalan, History of the Pallavas (1928), p. 118 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  2. Gopalan, History of the Pallavas (1928), p. 119 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  3. G. Jouveau-Dubreuil, Ancient History of the Deccan (1920), p. 70, genealogical table (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  4. R. Gopalan, History of the Pallavas of Kanchi (1928), p. 113 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  5. Gopalan, History of the Pallavas (1928), p. 115 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  6. Gopalan, History of the Pallavas (1928), p. 117 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  7. Gopalan, History of the Pallavas of Kanchi (1928), p. 114 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  8. Gopalan, History of the Pallavas (1928), p. 116 and note (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  9. Gopalan, History of the Pallavas (1928), p. 124 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  10. Gopalan, History of the Pallavas (1928), p. 125 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  11. Gazetteer of the Nellore District, brought up to 1938, Vol. A (1942), p. 34 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  12. Butterworth and Venugopaul Chetty, Nellore District Inscriptions (1905), p. 429, Gudur No. 54 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  13. Alan Butterworth and V. Venugopaul Chetty, A Collection of the Inscriptions on Copper-Plates and Stones in the Nellore District, Part I (1905), Preface, p. vi (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  14. Gopalan, History of the Pallavas (1928), p. 121 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  15. Gopalan, History of the Pallavas (1928), p. 122 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  16. Gazetteer of the Nellore District (1942), p. 35 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

Dynasties

Pallavas

c. 250–900 CE

Dynasty of Kanchi (Kanchipuram) whose kings held the Telugu country south of the Krishna for much of the 4th to 7th centuries CE. Their earliest charters, in Prakrit, were sent from Kanchi to an officer at Dhanyakataka near Amaravati. A later line issued Sanskrit grants of villages in the Guntur and Nellore country from camps such as Palakkada and Dasanapura. The Chalukyas took Vengi and the Guntur country early in the 7th century. But Pallava kings still granted villages in Nellore until about 700, and their vassals held parts of Chittoor and Rayalaseema until the Chola conquest about 900.

References

Sources (5)
  1. R. Gopalan, History of the Pallavas of Kanchi (opens in a new tab), University of Madras, 1928, pp. 113–125. [Public domain]
  2. G. Jouveau-Dubreuil, Ancient History of the Deccan (opens in a new tab), The author, Pondicherry (translated by V. S. Swaminadha Dikshitar), 1920, pp. 70. [Public domain]
  3. Alan Butterworth and V. Venugopaul Chetty, A Collection of the Inscriptions on Copper-Plates and Stones in the Nellore District, Part I (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1905, vi, 429. [Public domain]
  4. W. E. Johns, Gazetteer of the Nellore District, brought up to 1938, Vol. A (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1942, pp. 34–35. Paraphrased. [Public domain in India]
  5. Robert Sewell (ed. S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar), The Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (Collected till 1923) and Outlines of Political History (opens in a new tab), University of Madras, 1932, pp. 375. Paraphrased. [Public domain in India]

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